EDMONTON — The Let Alberta Decide third party advertiser (TPA) squashed Thomas Lukaszuk's Forever Canadian Citizen Initiative Society federalist TPA in each group's first financial contributions reports released by Elections Alberta on Friday, raising over $100,000 in donations. Alberta's election laws require groups that incur more than $1,000 in expenses when advertising political events, including referendums, to provide contribution reports detailing donations and individually listing each contribution greater than $250. .Keith Wilson and Tanya Clemens, pro-Alberta independence referendum advertising group, reported over $119,000 in donations between March 31 and Thursday, after registering as a TPA on June 17 and announcing their "Alberta's done waiting" campaign at a press conference two days later. The duos group quickly became one of the faces of the pro-independence movement, with many individuals rallying around Wilson, who has been a prominent fighter and taken on federalist advocates like former Premier Jason Kenney in debates on multiple occasions. "Independence allows Albertans to make decisions that affect Albertans," said Wilson at their campaign's launch. "So instead of going to Ottawa and asking for permission for things, we have the opportunity before us, depending on how Albertans vote, to elect politicians here in Alberta who will make the full range of decisions that affect every aspect of our lives and our economy.".Forever Canadian, which frequently holds events across Alberta and has distributed a large number of pro-federalism lawn signs, reported zero contributions during the same period after registering as a TPA on June 8. Lukaszuk's group has recently faced heavy online criticism from Alberta independence supporters, as some have suspected that the costs of his group's events and fuel for their "unity bus" exceeded $1,000 before registering with Elections Alberta. "I still hope and expect there will be some retroactive publication of the funding sources for Forever Canada," wrote Pathway to Independence TPA organizer Cory Morgan in a statement to the Western Standard on Monday. "Other TPAs have carefully remained within the constraints of Elections Alberta's rules. We have no way to know yet if Forever Canadian received foreign funding or had contributors offering more than the limits." .Forever Canadian has become a focal point in October's referendum, not only as one of the leading federalist voices but also because Premier Danielle Smith used the group's petition to craft the question asking Albertans whether they want a binding independence referendum in the future. "There may not be enough sandwiches for all of you, I'm sorry, but there is enough lawn signs for all of you and more," said Lukaszuk to the over 1,000 individuals who came to Forever Canadian's headquarters to kickoff their referendum campaign on May 23. "So friends, as our recently released video said, we didn't start this fight, but we are showing up, and we're going to win. Canada is not, and being Canadian is not, where we live, but who we are, and no one is going to take that away from us."Lukaszuk's group reported a $12,800 surplus when filing their Forever Canadian citizen initiative petition financial report in November, after generating over $386,000 in revenue, including $302,000 in donations, and incurring $224,000 in expenses..Morgan's pro-independence TPA has received the second-most contributions among the 19 referendum advertisers, reporting over $70,000.Alberta's Voice TPA, led by Stephen Carter, has generated the most donations among federalist advertisers, raising over $18,000. Elections Alberta publishes each TPA's contribution reports every Friday, and will do so until after the referendum on October 19.
